Surging Shipping Costs Are Now Bleeding Into Global Fuels Trading

Surging Shipping Costs Are Now Bleeding Into Global Fuels Trading
Jack Wittels October 17, 2019

Record-high shipping costs are spilling over into the prices for refined fuels in Europe, Asia and the U.S.

As freight rates rocket amid U.S. sanctions and geopolitical risks, the prices of oil products such as gasoline and diesel are being forced to adapt in order to enable trade.

Europe has long made excess gasoline, giving traders a lucrative opportunity to ship it to the U.S. Now, the increase in tanker rates is hitting at a time when crude flows have also been disrupted by the same surge in shipping costs.

The cost of hauling freight on the route has soared to its highest since 2015, according to Baltic Exchange data. That helped make U.S. gasoline the most expensive it’s been relative to Europe, on a seasonal basis, since 2016.

more...https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-17/oil-tanker-rate-spike...